So its been almost two weeks since I've been here, which gives me plenty of time to acclimatize to this place, which is tiny, tiny, tiny by Mumbai standards...of course, that was to be expected, but I had no idea how absolutely tiny it is..There are around 5-6 roads, having some shops, a residential area which to me seemed absolutely deserted, but then people do have to live somewhere dont they, and...and..and..? and i cant find anything else...there are a couple of engineering colleges, a couple of medical colleges and so on, but i'll be damned if i've seen any students here...

other impressions...the place is hot..and surprisingly sticky...given that i come from mumbai, world leader in sticky heat, its not much of a difference, but for a place this far inland, i was surprised how much i sweated in the first week...i must've lost weight by the gallon rather than by the kilo...and oh yes, i am losing weight..thts what happens when I can't find a single good place to eat and am forced to eat to live, rather than live to eat which as everyone can attest, is one of my most important mottos of life...hopefully, it'll lead me to lose the enormous pot belly which I acquired almost exactly a year back..karma??

Hard water here...takes some getting used to..and more woe to me, i am forced to take bath in cold water, which is something i absolutely HATE...everyday i have to relive that fateful day in Delhi when I had to take bath in ice-cold water @ 4 degree C, and tell myself that if I can do that, then this should be a piece of cake..which its not, but im surviving...

Hotel is a marvel. I will leave it at that.

Work hasn't started in full flow as yet. Hardly a couple of hours of work everyday, which leaves a lot of time for R&R. My back is getting as much rest as it could've gotten in Mumbai. so i guess the company's taking good care of me. Once work starts its supposed to be a lot of work, so i guess I should savor the rest while I'm getting some...

Ok, so this ayurvedic massage guy comes every day nowadays to physiotherapize me the traditional keralite way...and we've moved on to the phase of burning me..i.e. he heats up this cloth-sack full of various powders, dips the sack in oil, puts the oil-dripping sack on a heater and then lays the smackdown on my back....

Sometimes the stuff is really hot and there is a peculiar aroma which comes out that I really enjoy...It only comes out when the thing is really hot, so the weird part is I dunno whether its the smell of the oil+powder or my skin burning...If I'm really enjoying the smell of burning skin, how fucked-up am I ??

So I've been searching for a couple of my marksheets since last month, and I've no idea where they are. I'm worried, because I've to submit them on the first day of my job. I've all but given up, and have asked friends to get duplicate copies from the college office, as I'm still on stupid bed rest.

Then, I wake up all of a sudden, in the middle of one night at 4.30 a.m., go and open a bag, remove a folder, open it up and there it is !!!